MLK sculpture destroyed

"Enlightenment" broken over July 4th weekend; no repair is possible

Rick Karli, Times Union

By Rick Karlin

Published 9:50 pm, Friday, August 8, 2014

Glass sculpture titled "Seeds of Enlightenment," by artist Eric Hilton, which was the centerpiece to a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the Concourse at Empire Sate Plaza. The statue was damaged July 4 which apparently went unnoticed. (Courtesy OGS)

The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the Concourse at Empire Sate Plaza is missing its centerpiece, a glass sculpture titled "Seeds of Enlightenment," by artist Eric Hilton, Friday, 8, 2014, in Albany, N.Y. The statue was damaged July 4 which apparently went unnoticed. The empty pedestal base is now only visible remains of the sculpture. (Will Waldron/Times Union)

The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the Concourse at Empire Sate Plaza is missing its centerpiece, a glass sculpture titled "Seeds of Enlightenment," by artist Eric Hilton, Friday, 8, 2014, in Albany, N.Y. The statue was damaged July 4 which apparently went unnoticed. The empty pedestal base is now only visible remains of the sculpture. (Will Waldron/Times Union)

Empty pedestal base where a glass sculpture titled "Seeds of Enlightenment," by artist Eric Hilton once stood as the centerpiece to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the Concourse at Empire Sate Plaza Friday, 8, 2014, in Albany, N.Y. The statue was damaged July 4 which apparently went unnoticed. (Will Waldron/Times Union)

The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the Concourse at Empire Sate Plaza is missing its centerpiece, a glass sculpture titled "Seeds of Enlightenment," by artist Eric Hilton, Friday, 8, 2014, in Albany, N.Y. The statue was damaged July 4 which apparently went unnoticed. The empty pedestal base is now only visible remains of the sculpture. (Will Waldron/Times Union)

The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the Concourse at Empire Sate Plaza is missing its centerpiece, a glass sculpture titled "Seeds of Enlightenment," by artist Eric Hilton, Friday, 8, 2014, in Albany, N.Y. The statue was damaged July 4 which apparently went unnoticed. The empty pedestal base is now only visible remains of the sculpture. The photo at left features Dr. King, center, with Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, right, and Francis Joseph Spellman, Cardinal Archbishop of New York, left. (Will Waldron/Times Union)

Denizens of the Empire State Plaza concourse may have noticed something missing lately: a striking glass sculpture that was the centerpiece of a display honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

The piece, located along the wall near the concourse's north end, was destroyed over the July 4th weekend and has been removed. It was unclear how the sculpture was broken — whether accident or vandalism — but it has been deemed to be beyond repair, state Office of General Services spokeswoman Heather Groll said.

Its replacement value is estimated at $20,000.

"Would we love to have another one? Absolutely," Groll said of the piece, which was commissioned by Corning Glass and donated to the state. " We were really upset about losing it."

Titled "Seeds of Enlightenment," the sculpture was designed by glass artist Eric Hilton and dedicated on May 24, 2000.

The exhibit on King also features photographs of a 1962 trip the civil rights leader made to New York. Those photos were put up over the last two years as part of a "Plaza Proud'' initiative to spiff up the underground passageway and the rest of the complex with historical displays.

The sculpture was fashioned from four abstracted glass columns, joined by an elongated triangular prism. Droplets of glass "seeds" appeared randomly on the prism and spilled over on the base, which was made of polished granite.

All that's left are the metal bolts that used to attach the piece to the floor.

Members of the local African-American community said they were saddened by the loss.

Some wondered why an homage to King would be the only item damaged in a large concourse that is filled with artwork.

"Whether it was a racist act or not, no one knows," said Alice Green, executive director of the Center for Law and Justice, a civil rights organization. "But the important thing is that when any cultural symbol for blacks is destroyed, people become very upset."

The incident occurred as OGS is preparing to move around some of the large pieces of art in the concourse. The collection, which dates to Gov. Nelson Rockefeller's creation of the massive Capitol complex, includes 92 pieces by artists who worked in New York in the 1960s and '70s, including Mark Rothko, Helen Frankenthaler and Ellsworth Kelly.

People walk through the concourse year after year and get so used to the work that they fail to appreciate it, Groll said.

Hilton, who was a designer at Steuben Glass, could not be reached on Friday.

In a statement about the work, Hilton said the seeds were meant to symbolize King's "commitment to human rights, community service and nonviolence — and his inherent and charismatic ability to spread the gospel across physical, racial and economic barriers was instrumental in pushing the civil rights movement in American along the path to truth and enlightenment."

"In planting the seeds of these ideals," he said, "Dr. King set into motion the ultimate achievement of his dream — a dream of hope, peace, justice and freedom for all humankind."